Jagdish Swaminathan (1929-1994)

overall in good condition, minor abrasions to lower edge, colors warmer in reality, as viewed
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
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Swaminathan's work rejects the mannerism of modern European art and the romanticism of the Bengal tradition and instead draws inspiration from the folk and tribal art of India.  These traditions represent the natural world in symbolic abstracted forms that hint at a ritual significance and are reminiscent of Neolithic cave paintings found throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Underlying this series is the artist's spirituality and respect for nature as the guide to a deeply mystifying universe whose potential remains unrealised and hidden. The paintings themselves thus appear to be pictorial maps designed to help his audience to view the world around them in new ways.  

In 1962, Swaminathan founded Group 1890.  The manifesto of the Group urged artists to see phenomena in their 'virginal state'.  Swaminathan's canvases from the 1960s can be seen as his personal search for the virginal state in art. 'His perception of this virginal state of phenomena he tried out in his paintings, creating an alternative pictorial space in dividing purely conceptual landscapes in bright color fields on which appeared mountains, stretches of water trees, diagonally levitating stones with an archetypal bird form. Painted with captivating simplicity his paintings explored the pictorial possibilities of his limited imagery which were emblematic of elements necessary for man's survival on earth and interpretatively the numerous permutations and combinations of the imagery and bright colours suggested the ascent of man's inner being leaving the gross and the sullied.'  (J. Swaminathan, 20th Century Museum of Contemporary Indian Art, presented online by Vadehra Art Gallery).